Butterfly
by Mudd Button
Summary: Lanney, a 7th yr, has a secret relationship with Snape... but what kind of toll will her death take on him? He might have a new support group...


Title: Butterfly  
Rating: PG-13 (for now)  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for me own charrie, Lanney Munroe and all things considered. I am not making any profit from this. J. K. Rowling owns all things Harry Potter!  
Spoilers: Yes, a newbie, folks. But she doesn't last long anywho! But she is NOT a Mary Sue, I don't think she is, anyway. . .  
  
Summary: Lanney Munroe is a 7th year Slytherin (although, unwillingly). She is an unregistered animagi as a butterfly. Severus and her have a romance that even mystifies him. What kind of toll will her death take on him? He may very well be befriended by 3 people you would never have expected. . . . But it might still be too much for him to handle, even with his new-found support group.  
  
Author's Note: 'Allo! Hope you like this. It's something I thought of one night and I had to upload it so you all can read this while I'm wretching over My Feelings For You. Enjoy! :O)  
  
  
Chapter One  
Secrets  
  
  
It was almost 3 weeks into Harry, Hermione, and Ron's 7th year and they had found a friend in SLYTHERIN of all places. Her name was Lanney Munroe. Much more about her than that the three did not know. But they did know she should NOT have been placed in Slytherin!  
  
She had plenty of secrets. Like the one she held within her heart about Severus Snape, and of course the biggest one. The two of them would glance strangely at the other during Double Potions. And Severus even seemed to favor her over Malfoy. She'd often stay after in his class and she'd be late (excused, no doubt) to her next class.  
  
And then there was the secret that while Harry would be out late at night in his Invisibility Cloak he'd see her in the hallways (heading to or from the dungeon, of course) and she'd suddenly disappear.  
  
But she was a silent nobody COMPLETELY up until her 6th year at Hogwarts. No one even noticed her existence until that year. Maybe it was due to the way she blossomed over the summer of 5th year.  
  
She was like Hermione in many ways. Her first 5 years were her "Ugly Duckling" years and then she came back with curves, full assets, bright eyes, and all that. And she was terribly brilliant. Although, she never flaunted it the way Hermione did. She had gotten the opportunity to be Head Girl and Prefect, but turned down the Prefect position telling people it made her look like a goody-good.  
  
Yes, by now she could admit to herself that she loved him. She had for nearly 2 years. Last year any involvement outside of class with him could be a little risky, but now that she was 18 years old. . . well, approaching VERY soon, it was a little less dangerous and would be less looked down upon. She went there almost every night. He'd make love to her, which happened 9 times out of 10, or they would only talk, which happened 1 time. . . wait, no. . . it happened about 1/4 of the time out of 10. The other 3/4 of the time they'd just hold eachother in absolute silence. Yes, she did love Severus very much. But it was getting too dangerous. Much too dangerous. She still wasn't QUITE 18 AND she was still a student. People were beginning to suspect things. That was never a good thing.   
  
They had to limit their nightime "visits" to a minimum that could not make either one of them happy. In fact, Lanney was contemplating them not seeing eachother at all outside of class. Atleast until graduation. She still didn't know if he loved her, anyway. She assumed she was probably just a good fuck. After all, he'd never actually told her he loved her.  
  
But he did. He did very much. And anyone should know, even Lanney, that he had a hard time expressing love for anyone even if he truly cared for and loved them. That was the kind of disposition he had been in since his 3rd year at Hogwarts, for reasons that will be left unannounced. He had once expressed his love for someone and they had made a mockery of it.   
  
Every time he'd get close to saying "I love you" he would choke up insufferably. He was just too afraid of being hurt again. And with well reason, because if she did decide to end it for the rest of the year it would hurt him greatly.  
  
And she did. He yelled a bit and argued. She did all that as well and she left. He could only keep a strong heart for minutes after she departed, and then fell weak, bursting into tears. A man of 37. . . bursting into tears. A man that is Severus Snape, of all men. . . bursting-into-tears. It could break anyone's heart to see that. Even his worst enemy.  
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It did break her heart. She tried to tell him it was only until graduation, but he just wouldn't accept it.  
  
"It's now or never." He told her, in hopes that his ultimatum would just make her change her mind. But it didn't. It only made her angrier.  
  
At night she would transform into her butterfly form and fly the long distance to his bedroom. Find an open place somewhere that she could sneak into and flutter around the room until she found a safe place to watch him.  
  
He was always so sad and lonely. Sometimes he would look up from a book he was reading and a single tear would roll down his face as he gazed off into his fire.   
  
How she would love to just transform on the spot and walk over and hold him. And tell him that it was going to be alright. But she couldn't. No one could know about her animagi. She was unregistered and illegal.  
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It was a particularly quiet evening in the Slytherin common room, and a solemn one at that, that Lanney decided to go down to Severus' bedroom once more.  
  
She flew gracefully out into the halls and down to the dungeon where she found her normal nook in the wall and slipped inside of it. She fluttered over to the window sill that was open and she rested her exhausted wings watching him in his chair with a book, as he always had in his hand, reading it, actually, or not. . .   
  
Suddenly he rose from his chair and wandered over to his window. Lanney wanted to move, but she decided against it, wanting Severus to smile at her.  
  
And he did. He looked down at her beautiful blue and green swirl pattern wings and a slight grin tugged at the corners of his mouth. It reminded him so much of Lanney. She was so graceful and delicate and beautiful. And he had been lucky enough to have her once.  
  
He slowly moved his hand towards the beautiful creature and gently ran a finger across each of its wings.   
  
She began to flutter madly about. Twitching and writhing and falling from the window sill.  
  
Severus' eyes widened, 'Oh no! What have I done? I've killed it. . ." He thought dreadfully. He bent down closer to it to pick it up when suddenly it started to grow.   
  
Wings slowly transformed into hands and arms and all other limbs, and the body stretched to a females body and the head out to a beatiful face. . . one that Severus recognized very well. He gasped and scooped her up into his arms.  
  
"Lanney! Are you okay?" He choked out.  
  
She shook her head slightly, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. It's not your fault. . ."  
  
Tears rolled down the mans face, "Y- you're not going to die. It's going to be alright. I- I'm going to take you to the nurse!"  
  
"No, Sev. There's nothing they can do." She whispered to him.  
  
But he only shook his head and defiantly carried her off up to the nurses station.  
  
"Poppy! Please! Help her quickly! She's dying!" Severus shouted laying her down on the closest unoccupied bed.  
  
She ran over quickly and took Lanney's pulse. It was slowing drastically with each passing second.  
  
"Don't just stand around woman! Help her! PLEASE!" He ordered.  
  
"What's going on?" A familiar voice asked as Hermione, Harry, and Ron came running in, hearing the shouting.  
  
"Severus, I'm afraid there's nothing I can do. . . She is beyond repair of any sort." Madam Pomfrey said to him.  
  
Hermione peered around Severus' broad shoulders and saw Lanney lying there inches from death.  
  
Her mouth opened wide and she ran to her side eyes welling with a mass amount of tears, "What- what happened?"  
  
Harry and Ron could only stand there holding their mouths, with misty eyes.  
  
Hermione was ignored. Severus leaned closer to her, "Please don't leave me, Lanney. I need you!"  
  
She smiled weakly at him, "We will be together again. . . someday."  
  
His hot tears fell onto her face as he leaned down to kiss her gently on the lips, "I- I love you. . . L-Lanney." He grabbed her hand and held it gently.  
  
"I love you t. . ." And her head fell back onto the pillow, her eyes fell shut, but upon her beautiful radiant face sat a smile. A most peaceful smile. Not a struggled smile, just a small, pleasant smile.   
  
Severus let out a most painful wail as his tears multiplied.  
  
Then a soft hand rested on his shoulder. . .  
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Okay, kiddies. How do you like it so far? It's not going to be that long, but this definitely is not the end of it! Hope you like! Please REVIEW! I LOVE REVIEWS! Okay? Okay! :O) 


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